


Breath In, Breath Out

by oozmakappa



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-04-07 08:19:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4256196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oozmakappa/pseuds/oozmakappa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was there, when she needed her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Genesis

**Author's Note:**

> Send off series

Julie was happy. She was playing well. They were winning, she had clinched a spot on the roster. A roster which lots of people thought she wouldn't make. It felt good. It felt damn good. Through it all she was being humble, she just naturally was. Being one of the younger players on the team, the build up to the world cup was overwhelming to say the least. The Arizona native thought she had navigated through all the stress quite well. And now with just one game left against South Korea, she was focused on one goal. To win the world cup.

They were on the bus, coming back from a late training just one day away from the game. Julie was sitting near the back, talking to her fellow centerback Becky about defensive structures and how to stifle the South Korean attack, when she received a text. Seeing it was from her boyfriend, but not reading it, she shoved her phone back in her pocket and proceeded to discuss tactics. A couple minutes later, the bus pulled up to the hotel, and Julie's tired teammates shuffled out row by row. Knowing this might take a while, she grabbed her phone to see what the football player had texted her:

Zach: "We need to talk"

Thinking nothing of it, she quickly agreed and asked for twenty minutes so that she could be settled in her room. After she got to her room, she threw her training gear by the foot of her bed, and was about to call Zach when the door barged open, Morgan, her roommate had invited some of the team to their room to play some cards. Julie decided to put off the call just a little longer and proceeded to join in the fun. After losing for what felt like the 20th time, the young defender excused herself to the hallway to make the phone call, deciding to go by the ice machine to allow for some privacy. 

He picked up on the first ring, that's when she knew something was up.

He broke up with her. To say the least. He kept it short and simple. And she was absolutely devastated. Her phone clattered to the ground. She was overwhelmed with emotion. She was crying, silently, just letting the hot tears stream down her face and end up pooling at her feet. That's when she heard someone coming, she hoped it was just a random stranger. But of course it wasn't.

Hope

Hope had just stepped out of her room to go get some ice for her roommate, Carli, who was getting the bathtub ready for their recovery. Softly whistling "Renegades" by X Ambassadors, some catchy song that Kelley had gotten stuck in her head from singing at practice. Hope rounded the corner, and saw a familiar outline by the ice machine. Thinking nothing of it, the goal keeper proceeded to amble along the highway, she realized it was her favorite defender, smiling to herself as she approached Julie she realized something wasn't quite right. Julie seemed to be shaking, and her phone lay broken by her feet. Hope quickened her pace. She got right in front of the defender and saw the tears streaming down her face. 

Without a word, Hope gently pulled the blonde towards the near by exit for the stairs. Once they had some privacy, she wrapped Julie up in a hug, tightly holding the smaller girl to her chest while stroking her hair. Julie broke in her arms. Hope was able to sit down on the steps, Julie sitting on her lap, with her legs wrapped around Hope's slender frame. After crying heavily into Hope's shoulder for about 10 minutes, the brunette pulled back. 

"What happened?" she questioned.

"He broke up with me" the other replied through staggered breathing.

After hearing that, Hope just pulled her into another hug and softly whispered "Anyone who would be dumb enough to break up with you, was never good enough to begin with"

"Do you really mean that?" Julie questioned, unsure if she could take the keeper's dishonesty now.

Hope gently pulled back, and looked straight into the blonde's eyes, she could feel the defender shudder against the intensity of her stare, but Hope didn't care, she needed the blonde to understand.

"You are so beautiful, and smart, and funny, and just incredible, anyone would be lucky to have you. I am lucky to have you in my life."  
"We should probably get to bed, curfew was 20 minutes ago" the defender sniffled into Hope's shoulder.

Hope glanced at her watch and agreed. She kept her arm around the smaller girl as she walked her to her room, a couple doors down from Hope's own. When they reached it, Hope pulled Julie in for another long hug, that she melted into. Trying to disregard how good it felt to be held, Julie reluctantly let go.

"Thank you for everything tonight, I know we aren't the closest friends, but I am really glad it was you that found me, otherwise I'd probably still be there" the defender chuckled to herself.

"Hey, I will always be here if you ever need me to be. I take care of my back line" the older girl smiled.

And with one last hug and a smile, the two entered their separate rooms, both instantly missing the contact.


	2. Chapter 2

The day after a breakup is always the worst. Julie woke up with so much optimism and happiness from her dreams overnight, only to remember the pain in her heart and the confusion of what happened last night with Hope in her head. Hope was probably not the number one person to go to with relationship problems. They had all heard about the Jeremy thing and tried not to pry. No one was daring enough to talk to Hope about the keeper's undesirable topics. Julie always liked Hope, being one of the defenders, she had always worked in close quarters with Hope. Hope had also stepped up into a mentor-ship role for Julie, talking to her about defense and adding advice to her positioning that Becky had overlooked. 

Being a younger player Julie wasn't really expected to hang out with the veterans. Especially not the most reserved and stoic one on the team, but nothing about Hope rubbed Julie wrong or scared her away. As a matter a fact, Julie always thought that the keeper wanted nothing more than for someone to break through her walls and allow Hope to show the team who she really was and not what the media portrayed her to be. Julie was determined to be the Trojan Horse since day one. 

The blonde glanced over at the clock, it was 6:30 an hour and a half before the team had breakfast. She decided to take a hot shower and maybe walk around town and grab a coffee before breakfast. That's something that she always will love about soccer, it allows her to travel to where ever it takes her. Which is currently NYC, a long ways away from Tucson. Julie grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom and took a long steamy shower, allowing the heat to unwind her mind and relax her muscles. She towel dried her hair and threw on some shorts and a Chicago Cubs shirt she had received at a recent game along with a black set of Nikes. She wrote a quick note to Christen, her roomie, and proceeded out the door. She opted for the stairs remembering Ali's childhood horror story and was about to walk out the door when she walked right into Hope coming out of the elevator.Hope was a little taken aback and was going to apologize to whom ever she had just ran into when she realized it was Julie. And that Julie was not only smiling, but laughing at her. 

"Wow, Jules, are you ok?" Hope asked. She asked again when Julie didn't answer, but rather kept laughing at Hope. Hope was a little creeped out until she looked into a nearby mirror and realized her precious eyeliner was smeared in the collision and she looked ridiculous. She started laughing at herself, and was moving to fix it when she realized her hands were full with her book, phone, charger, and sunglasses. Julie recognized her predicament, and instead of offering to hold some of Hope's stuff she opted for helping herself. Hope was still looking down at her hands trying to figure out what to do when she felt Julie step up to her. 

Julie put one hand on Hope's left cheek and leaned in real close, she used her left hand to wipe away the smudge of makeup on Hopes face. "There all done" JJ said in a quiet whisper, as she looked into Hope's crystal blue eyes, as she realized their faces were only two inches. "You have really pretty eyes" Hope whispered back, barely audible. That snapped JJ out of it, and she stepped back from the goalkeeper, and thought she saw a hint of sadness flicker through Hope's eyes, but it was too quick. JJ chuckled awkwardly at the situation. "Hey, sorry about that, but do you wanna grab a cup of coffee with me now, before breakfast" the blonde recovered. "Yeah, sounds good, I found a good place yesterday by central park". And with that the keeper led JJ out of the hotel.

They made small talk about the game tomorrow and the weather and how excited Jules was for her first world cup. They reached the shop and Hope quickened her step to make sure she could hold the door for JJ. "And they say chivalry is dead" smiled Julie. "Only for you" Hope said. She then mentally slapped herself for saying that not knowing how Julie would perceive it. She didn't see the blonde's beaming smile as she heard her words. They ordered coffee, black for Hope and a caramel macchiato for JJ. Hope asked for them in to go cups and walked JJ back outside. "I thought that maybe we could have these by the water, if you'd like, we don't have to, I just thought" Julie cut her off "yeah, lets have them by the water". Julie secretly thought it was always cute to see the rambling side of the always put together keeper. She only does that when she is nervous the defender thought to herself. Then it dawned upon her, Hope gets nervous around her, the thought made her smile.

"Uh, earth to Julie" Hope waved her free hand in front of JJ's face. "Oh, sorry just thinking about Zach" Julie quickly made up. "Oh, how about don't think about him, and don't let him ruin our morning" Hope said sincerely. She also reached down and swiftly grabbed JJ's hand and tangled their fingers together. A warm electric calm settled over JJ at the contact something that never happened when Zach held her hand. Hope didn't let go until they reached the water and snagged a bench that had a great view of the city and the park around them. After they finished their cups they still had a half hour to kill before they had to get back. Hope jumped up and grabbed JJ's hand again. The keeper dragged the smaller woman to the water bank and found some skipping stones. 

"The person who throws the stone that skips more has to give the other a piggy back the entire way back to the hotel." Hope smirked. "Deal, but you might want to stretch Solo, so you don't get sore for tomorrow" JJ giggled. "One, two, three" counted Hope. They threw their rocks, Hope's skipped three times before sinking, Julie's jumped 5. "I told you Solo, I told you" laughed the blonde as she did a little victory dance. She then jumped on Hope's back and wrapped her arms around her neck snuggly, burying her head into Hope's neck and inhaling the coconut of the brunette's shampoo. 

"Yeah, yeah rub it in JJ, cause it'll be the only thing you're going to be winning in a while" Hope cheekily replied. Secretly very content with how things had turned out. She loved having JJ this close to her, something about the younger woman made her feel something she hadn't before and she wanted to relish it. True to her word, Hope carried JJ all the way back. They talked about all sorts of things from Hope's dogs to Pinoe's pranks. Julie didn't think she has ever heard Hope laugh that much, ever. It was something she wanted to make happen over and over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try an update. Plus does anyone have backups to trooper12's stories?


End file.
